Claude Foundations

Why setup matters more than prompting

Most people approach Claude the same way they approach Google. They open it when they need something, type a question and read the answer. The result is inconsistent. Generic. Occasionally useful. They conclude that AI is “fine, but not that impressive.”

The problem is not the prompts. It’s the foundation. When Claude has no context about who you are, what you do, how you communicate or what you’re trying to build, it defaults to generic. It writes for a hypothetical average person — not for you, your audience or your business.

This module fixes that permanently. By the end of it, Claude will know who you are, how you write, what you’re building and what you need. Every conversation you have from this point forward will be faster, more accurate and significantly more useful.

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Step 1 — Understanding what you’re actually installing

There are three ways to access Claude and they are not the same thing. Understanding the difference is important before you install anything.

claude.ai in a browser — This is the web version. You log in at claude.ai and have conversations. It works, but it has limitations: each conversation starts relatively fresh, you cannot use tools like web search or file management by default, and it does not connect to your other applications. Think of this as the basic version.

The Claude desktop app — This is the version you want for serious business use. It installs on your Mac or Windows computer like any other application. It has the same conversations as the browser version but crucially it can also see and interact with other applications open on your computer — your files, your documents, your browser — when you give it permission. This is what makes the workflows in this course possible.

Cowork — This is an additional tool built on top of Claude that extends what the desktop app can do even further. We cover Cowork in Module 2. For now, focus on the desktop app.

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Step 2 — Installing the Claude desktop app

Go to claude.ai/download in your browser. You will see download options for Mac and Windows. Download the version for your computer and install it the same way you would install any other application — open the downloaded file and follow the prompts.

Once installed, open the app and log in with the same account you use for claude.ai. Your conversations, Projects and settings carry over automatically. The desktop app and the browser version share the same account — they are different interfaces to the same Claude.

One thing you will notice immediately: when the desktop app is open, Claude can see the other applications currently running on your computer. This is intentional and powerful — it means you can ask Claude to look at a document you have open, reference a webpage you are viewing or work with files on your desktop. You control what Claude can see and when. If you prefer to keep things separate, you can restrict this in the settings.

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Step 3 — Understanding Projects

Projects are one of the most important features in Claude and also one of the most underused. A Project is a dedicated workspace within Claude that has its own persistent context, its own set of files and its own custom instructions. When you work inside a Project, Claude carries information from one conversation to the next within that Project — which is fundamentally different from starting a new conversation each time.

Think of Projects like dedicated team members with full briefings. You would not ask a new colleague to write your sales page without first explaining what your business does, who your audience is and how you communicate. Projects solve this by letting you give Claude that full briefing once — and it applies to every conversation inside that Project from that point on.

How to create a Project: In the Claude sidebar on the left, look for the Projects section. Click the + icon or “New Project.” Give it a name that reflects what it is for — for example “Course Content,” “Sales Copy,” “Client Work” or “Social Media.” You can have as many Projects as you need and each one operates as a completely separate working environment.

What to add to a Project: Each Project has two key areas. The first is the Project Instructions — a space where you can write anything you want Claude to know and apply every time you work inside this Project. The second is the Knowledge area — where you can upload documents, PDFs, spreadsheets or other files that Claude can reference during conversations in this Project.

Suggested Projects to set up now:

• My Business — everything about who you are, what you do, who your audience is and how you communicate. This becomes your master briefing.
• Course Content — for writing and building course material
• Sales and Marketing — for sales pages, emails, social content and ads
• Client Work — if you do client-facing work, a Project for each client keeps everything separate and contextual

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Step 4 — Writing your Personal AI Profile

Your Personal AI Profile is the most important document you will create in this course. It is a written description of you, your business, your audience and your communication style — written specifically so that Claude can understand who it is working with and produce output that genuinely reflects you rather than a generic AI version of you.

This goes in two places: the Project Instructions of your main “My Business” Project, and in the global Custom Instructions accessible from your Claude settings. The Project Instructions apply inside that Project. The Custom Instructions apply across every conversation everywhere.

What to include in your Personal AI Profile:

• Who you are — your name, your profession, your qualifications and your background. Not a formal bio — write it the way you would explain yourself to a new colleague.
• What your business does — what you sell, who it is for and what transformation or result it delivers. Be specific. “I help midlife women understand their hormones through a membership programme with three tiers” is far more useful to Claude than “I run a wellness business.”
• Your audience — who you are speaking to. Age range, life stage, key concerns, what they have already tried, what they want, how they talk about their problems. The more specific you are here the more accurately Claude will write for them.
• Your voice and tone — how you write and communicate. Give examples. “I write in UK English, use short sentences, never use em dashes and avoid jargon. My tone is warm but direct — I treat my audience as intelligent adults who don’t need things over-explained.” You can paste in examples of your actual writing and ask Claude to analyse your style, then include that analysis here.
• Your rules and preferences — things you always want Claude to do or never want it to do. Spelling conventions (UK vs US English), words you want avoided, formatting preferences, how you want information structured.
• Your current priorities — what you are working on right now, what is most important in the next 90 days and what context Claude needs to give useful suggestions.

There is no length limit. A thorough Personal AI Profile might be 600–1,000 words. The investment you make writing this document pays back in every single conversation you have with Claude from this point on.

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Step 5 — Understanding how Claude’s memory works

One of the most common points of confusion with Claude is memory — specifically, what it remembers and what it does not. Getting this clear will save you a lot of frustration.

What Claude remembers within a conversation: Everything. Within a single conversation Claude has access to everything that has been said in that conversation from the very first message to the current one. This is called the context window. It is large — Claude can hold a substantial amount of text in a single conversation without forgetting earlier parts.

What Claude remembers between conversations: By default, nothing — unless you are working inside a Project. When you start a new conversation outside of a Project, Claude starts completely fresh with no memory of previous conversations. This is why so many people feel like Claude is inconsistent — they keep having to re-explain themselves.

How Projects fix this: When you work inside a Project, Claude has access to the Project Instructions and any files you have uploaded to that Project’s Knowledge area — every time, in every conversation within that Project. This is persistent memory by design. It does not replace the conversation-level memory; it supplements it. So Claude knows both what you have told it in the current conversation and what you have built into the Project as standing context.

The Memory feature: Claude also has a separate Memory feature (available in settings) that can save specific facts from conversations for use later. This is different from Projects. Memory is for general facts — “my business is called X, my target customer is Y” — while Projects are for full working contexts. Both are worth using and they complement each other rather than replacing each other.

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Step 6 — Custom Instructions

Custom Instructions are a global setting that applies across every conversation with Claude — inside Projects and outside them. They are separate from Project Instructions, which only apply within their specific Project.

To access Custom Instructions: click on your profile picture or initials in the bottom left corner of the Claude interface, then select “Settings,” then “Custom Instructions.” You will see two fields.

The first field asks: “What would you like Claude to know about you to provide better responses?” This is where you paste a condensed version of your Personal AI Profile — who you are, what you do and who your audience is.

The second field asks: “How would you like Claude to respond?” This is where you specify your communication preferences — language (UK English), tone, formatting rules, things to avoid and anything else about how you want responses structured.

A practical example for the second field, to give you a starting point:

Adapt this to reflect your actual preferences. The more specific you are, the more consistently Claude will write in the style you want.

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Step 7 — Uploading files to your Projects

Once you have set up your Projects and written your instructions, the next step is to populate the Knowledge area with documents Claude should be able to reference. This is one of the most powerful aspects of the Project system — Claude can read, understand and draw on the files you upload whenever you are working inside that Project.

What to upload to your “My Business” Project:

• Examples of your best writing — blog posts, emails, sales copy that you are proud of and want Claude to match in tone
• Your brand guidelines if you have them
• Your bio and About page text
• Testimonials and customer feedback — Claude can draw on the language your customers use when writing copy for them
• Any style guide or editorial rules you have developed

What to upload to your “Course Content” Project:

• Existing course outlines or syllabuses
• Any research, notes or source material relevant to what you teach
• Examples of course content you admire or want to model
• Your course style guidelines — how long modules should be, what format they follow, how assessments are structured

Supported file types include PDF, Word documents, plain text, CSV, and most common document formats. Claude can read and reference all of them.

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